Arn rode only a short way together with his men from Arnäs. Then he stopped and changed into the Folkung battle garb, the simple gray homespun garment with a red border that he had worn as his first worldly clothing on that day less than a year ago when he had ridden out from Varnhem. At that time it was expected that he would learn something about the base world. He had indeed learned much in the past year, but right now he found that most of it was evil.
He decided abruptly that he would ride alone toward Varn hem along the eastern shore of Hornborga Lake and through the forest of the mountain Billingen. The retainers certainly tried to dissuade him from this, for the times were uncertain and no one could know for sure what lurked in the forests. Arn replied coldly that in truth he had no intention of relinquishing his sword and may the Lord preserve any highwaymen or other rabble who attacked him in his present state of mind. With that he wheeled Shimal around and rode off without another word. All the retainers in his escort knew that none of them would be able to follow his stallion at the pace it had set, and they could do nothing but begin the dismal return to Arnäs without the one whose life they had sworn to protect, with their own if necessary.
Arn rode a long time across fens and bogs where there was no human dwelling. It had already grown dark by the time he reached the slopes of Billingen. He knew that he needed only to continue north and he would soon come upon the fields of Varnhem, where he would either recognize the way or be able to ask directions. But it was risky to ride in the hills at night, and the sky was overcast, with neither moon nor stars lighting his way. He continued on listlessly for as long as he could see where he was steering Shimal, but he soon had to prepare to stop for the night. It was going to be cold, since he had no sheepskins with him and only a thin cloak, but he took this as only the beginning of the tests and the penance that he knew lay before him. He wanted to suffer much, if only it shortened the time of punishment, so that with God's help he would be able to fulfill his holy vow to fetch Cecilia from Gudhem.
In the dusk he found a little hut where a fire was glowing, and next to it stood a tumbledown stable where a cow lowed restlessly when he approached. He surmised that freed or escaped thralls lived here, but he would rather sleep in their hut than out in the cold woods.
He boldly entered the hut to ask for shelter for the night. He now feared nothing, since he could imagine nothing worse than what had already befallen him, and he had silver to offer as payment, which was the honorable and Christian thing to do instead of showing his sword as reason enough for his visit.
Yet he was somewhat shocked by the stooped old woman who sat by the fire stirring a kettle. She spoke in a croaking voice and greeted him not at all politely but with scorn and words that he didn't understand, saying that such as he should fear the dark, while such as she was a friend of the dark.
Arn answered her calmly and explained that he simply sought shelter for the night so that his horse might not be injured by continuing over the mountain in the dark. He added that he would pay her well for this service. When she didn't answer he went outside and removed the saddle from Shimal and put him in the stable with the lone skinny cow. When he came back to the hut he unbuckled his sword and tossed it on an empty bunk as a sign that this was where he intended to sleep. Then he pulled a little three-legged stool up to the fire and sat down to warm his hands.
The old woman peered at him suspiciously for a long while before she finally asked if he was someone who had a right to bear a sword, or one who bore a sword anyway. Arn replied that there were various opinions on that matter, but that she in any case had nothing to fear from his sword. As if to calm her he took out the little leather purse Eskil had given him when he left and fished out two silver coins, which he put down next to the fireplace so that they were lit by the glow. She picked up a coin and bit it, which Arn found incomprehensible, as he could not understand how anyone could doubt his word or good intentions. But she seemed satisfied with what her few teeth told her and asked if like all the others he had come here to find out what awaited him in the future. Arn replied that the future lay in God's hands, and no one else could predict it. She laughed so loud at this that she revealed her gaping mouth with only a few blackened teeth. She stirred her pot in silence for a while and then asked whether he would like some of the soup. Arn politely declined. He was already resigned to a long penance on bread and water.
"In what lies ahead for you in life I see three things, boy," she said suddenly, as if her alleged vision was pushing forward despite Arn's lack of interest. "I see two shields; would you like to know what I see?" she went on, squeezing both eyes shut as if to look inside herself. Arn's curiosity was already aroused, and maybe she saw that too behind her closed eyelids.
"What shields do you see?" he asked, sure that she would now say something foolish.
"One shield has three golden crowns against the sky and the other shield has a lion," she replied in a new singsong tone, her eyes still shut.
Arn was dumbstruck. He couldn't conceive of how a solitary old woman far out in the wilderness could have the slightest idea of such things, and even less that she could know who he was, or had been able to guess anything by looking at his clothes. He remembered a story to which he had given little credence, a story told to him by Knut, who said that his father Erik Jedvardsson, out on a crusade, had received a prophecy about the three crowns. But that had happened far away, on the other side of the Eastern Sea.
"What is the third thing you see?" he asked cautiously.
"I see a cross and I hear words with the cross, and what I hear are the words 'In this sign shalt thou conquer,'" she continued in her singsong way, without any expression on her face or opening her eyes.
Arn thought first that she must have been more sharp-eyed than he realized and read the Latin inscription on the hilt of his sword.
"You mean, 'In hoc signo vinces'?" he asked to test her. But she merely shook her head as if the Latin words meant nothing to her.